London Irish delighted to host two World Cup teams

New training base is among best in Premiership, says Exiles executive chairman

London Irish executive chairman David Fitzgerald has spoken of his pride that the club’s new £13million training facility has been chosen as a base for two countries competing in the 2015 World Cup.

The £13million Hazelwood complex will host Fiji for a week ahead of their group game against England at Twickenham on September 18 next year.

Wales will then move into Hazelwood to prepare for their Pool A clashes against England (Sep 26) and versus Australia (Oct 10).

Fitzgerald said “I wouldn’t be so arrogant as to say that ours is the best base in the Premiership but it’s certainly not far off it.

“The fact that the Rugby World Cup 2015 chose to make this one of their bases, even before the facility was completed, was a great endorsement.”

Although the Premiership next season is set to shut down while the World Cup is being played from September 18 to October 31, London Irish will continue to train at Hazelwood.

Exiles’ new 63-acre facility is four times the size of their old training base at The Avenue and, with five pitches and an artificial surface, big enough to accommodate both the club’s squad and their World Cup visitors.

Fitzgerald continued: “We will dedicate one pitch exclusively to our guests and they will use the amateur club’s dressing-rooms, of which we have six.

“All we have to do is manage the timing of the gym and when they use the restaurant and team meeting rooms.”

The pitches will be closed off to guarantee the World Cup teams privacy. But there will be a couple days when their training will be open to the public.

Fitzgerald revealed that he had received plenty of positive feedback from London Irish supporters following the staging of the club’s first ever match at Hazelwood.

A crowd of 1,800 saw Exiles beat Bristol 27-26 in a pre-season friendly on Friday.

Fitzgerald said: “The intent was to use it as a trial, to test it out. Everybody seemed to enjoy it and we will certainly try to have pre-season games here again.

“We can’t hold more than one a year, it’s not fair on the local community. But we are delighted with the way it went.

“Andy Robinson said if his Bristol side play on a better pitch all year he’d be surprised.

“The only complaint we’ve had is that we ran out of jerseys in the shop!”

Forward Kieran Low and centre Guy Armitage are in line for their first pre-season run-out when Irish take on Munster in Waterford on Friday (7.30pm kick-off).

The club intend to take a 25-man squad for their final warm-up game before kicking off their Premiership campaign against Harlequins in the London Double Header at Twickenham on September 6.